Written by Jeldi
Series: X/Tokyo Babylon
Pairing: S/S and possibly implied S/K
Rating: PG-13 (just to be safe)
This is my first fanfic to make it to its first completed chapter. Please R/R.
This fic contains spoilers up through volume 17 of X and also Tokyo Babylon. It also contains references to shounen-ai relationships (male/male relationships), so if you are not into that or are underage, do not read any further. Any flames as to this will be ignored.
Disclaimer: As everyone knows by this point, Subaru and Seishirou do not belong to anyone but CLAMP. The closest we can get is the cute UFO plush dolls. This is just for entertainment and I am not making any profit, so don't sue – after all, you would end up with approximately 500 yen and some stale Peeps (have to love those sugary marshmallow things ^^).
Prologue – Cruelty of FateNight in Tokyo was never truly considered night – Tokyo was a city that never slept. The ever-present neon lights illuminated the winter sky, creating an illusion of a false day. Every day, the populace went on about their business, completely oblivious to the impending apocalypse. A comment on the weather would float on the breeze; and then another about life's whims. People went on about their day to day lives without any fear of the future and no regret of the past.
Even in the dark of night, many frequented the streets of Tokyo, taking in the beauty of those lights and liveliness. There were places, however, that the light did not touch; places that seemed to exist in a world of their own, away from the sounds and sights that defined the metropolis. The grounds of Ueno Park were one of these places. The quiet atmosphere set the park off from the world around it; the paths through the sakura trees undisturbed in the chill of the winter night.
Even without an audience of admirers the sakura within the grounds held beauty; especially a magnificent, age-old tree eternally in bloom. Even in the dead of winter, the branches continued to drop petals, littering the ground in a carpet of light pink. Those that had noticed the blooming branches and stopped to ponder the reason attributed it to something as simple as a mishap of nature, yet the true reason for its ever-blooming state was never realized. Those individuals, looking up into the branches, never thought of the corpses buried beneath the roots or of the spirits bound within the bough of the tree. Such was the state of society, looking only at day to day concerns; never concerned about anything outside of their sphere of influence.
Likewise, no one would notice the two forms that coalesced beside the tree. Only one trained as an onmyouji would have perceived the forms staring forlornly at the tree, would have seen the sadness in the eyes of one and a glimpse of regret in the eyes of the other. A slight breeze picked blossoms from their homes and left them falling through their incorporeal silhouettes.
"We meet again, Hokuto-chan, though not under the circumstances you might have wished."
There was a long pause, and then in an uncharacteristic voice the light tone responded, "Sei-chan, I have to ask…why did you invoke the spell?"
"It was a catalyst for the inevitable. For centuries it has been the way of the Sakurazukamori; to be killed by the one you love." Seishirou sighed; recalled the shocked look Subaru had had the day he had been killed by Subaru's hands. "Subaru-kun would not have killed me on his own…he doesn't have the heart to kill anyone."
"But now he doesn't have the heart for anything any more", Hokuto accused, pointing a finger at him, eyes filled with subtle anger. "You've caused him to suffer again, you know. Is that what you wanted?"
"Pain heals over time. Subaru-kun's wounds might never completely heal, but he will survive."
Another pause, the silence so thick that the sakura could almost be heard raining down to the ground. "My only wish was for you both to continue living; regardless of whether or not you two reconciled the past", Hokuto admitted, "Even though your existence brought him pain, your death has brought even more."
"I don't regret the pain I've caused. Regret is something I am only starting to learn. I lived so many years by the tenet of the Sakurazukamori, that I denied feelings that I knew to be genuine. In many respects, those feelings are still new to me." Seishirou watched as the breeze snatched a blossom from it's resting place on a branch, the petals swirling away into the night. "The only thing that I do know I regret is the onus I have placed on Subaru."
"As the new Sakurazukamori?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you let the Sakurazukamori's line end? Why did Subaru have to become the next", Hokuto asked, the sadness returning to grace her features.
"I did not force the position on him; that was his own choice." Seishirou made an unconscious motion to rest his hand on the tree's trunk. "I admit that it was a selfish request that Subaru-kun replace his lost eye with mine. I expected him to refuse the offer."
Seishirou paused, an indefinable emotion visible for a split second in his eyes. "The succession of the Sakurazukamori is supposed to be instantaneous. Giving Subaru a choice might have been my reconciliation for the past."
Hokuto looked at Seishirou in surprise, not believing that the Sakurazukamori could so readily admit to being merciful. Seishirou seemed to notice her disbelief and continued.
"I cast the spell on that eye before the battle at Rainbow Bridge. The eye retained the powers of the tree at my death, living on as an extension of myself within that enchanted box. That was the sole reason that Subaru-kun did not become the Sakurazukamori immediately."
"Is that why there was the weakening in the tree's binding spell that allowed me to escape?" Looking at the tree, she shivered in remembrance of her nine long years bound within its core.
"It has never happened before, but I presume that you are correct. It is also the reason that I am not bound to the tree along with the spirits of those I killed."
Eyes hardening, Hokuto turned her gaze from the tree to Seishirou. "But what of Subaru now? What will he do now that he is the Sakurazukamori?"
Seishirou sighed. "The tree has already begun calling out to him. As its need for fresh blood grows, its influence will become stronger and Subaru-kun will be forced to assume the role of Sakurazukamori for real."
"Subaru can't do that!" Hokuto replied, appalled at the thought, "Having to kill, having to go against the family training…it would tear apart the little bit of his life that hasn't changed."
"Hokuto-chan, being from the Sumeragi family, you should check the current events. The family knows Subaru-kun is now the Sakurazukamori, and has renounced his claim to the title of thirteenth head. If not for the former head's warning, Subaru-kun might have lost his life as well."
"Grandmother warned him that the family had turned against him? But, that means that he's…", Hokuto trailed off, horrified at the revelation.
"Not part of the Sumeragi clan onmyouji, yes…and since he has inherited the Sakurazukamori's powers, he is the enemy of the clan."
"You're joking, right? There aren't any other qualified heirs for this generation! That means the responsibility falls back to the previous head!" Hokuto shook her head, eyes wide with disbelief. "How could she do that, fighting against her own grandchild?"
"You ask questions to which I do not have the answers, Hokuto-chan. Destiny has a strange way of working its own way out. All we can do is be patient and see what comes from all of this."
"But Subaru looks so hard into the past, and he's lost everything that tied him to that life", Hokuto stated, the expression on her face belying the tears that her spirit could not shed. "How can he throw away all he has known for something he has spent his life fearing?" She looked as if she was about to march straight to where Subaru resided. Even death did not seem to stop her overprotective nature for her twin.
Resting an incorporeal hand on her shoulder he restrained her from doing just that. "That is his decision to make. No one else can make that choice for him. He must choose a path…and fate has decreed that he must walk it alone. For that reason, we can not appear before him, as much we might wish to."
"That's so unfair." She threw her hands down in defeat.
"Life is unfair Hokuto-chan. But humans survive regardless. Subaru-kun will find a balance between yin and yang. Perhaps he might even find happiness again."
Looking at Seishirou, but not quiet believing his optimistic statement, she sighed. "I hope you're right, Sei-chan. I really hope you are right."
Both gave last looks to the sakura tree and its cascading blossoms as they faded back into the darkness; both prayed that fate would not always have a bittersweet ending.